Redskins Reportedly Won’t Have Josh Norman Shadow Dez Bryant

After getting a 5-year, $75 million deal with the Washington Redskins this past offseason, all eyes were on what cornerback Josh Norman was going to do with a big test on Monday Night Football against Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown.

What we got was Bashaud Breeland covering Brown for the majority of the game and getting torched for 126 yards and two touchdowns.

“There are plenty of factors that go into staying true to their defense rather than having Norman travel with Bryant. Among them, as sources explained, they believe Breeland is a very good player, traveling Norman puts the rest of the unit out of sorts, such a move could negatively affect Breeland’s confidence, and overreacting after one game featuring the best receiver in the NFL isn’t prudent.

When coach Jay Gruden spoke with NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo late this week, he offered some insight. Gruden praised both Norman and Breeland and added there are some risks involved in moving players around and telegraphing your defense.

“It’s a little bit too early to say, ‘OK, let’s match him up on the best receiver because Breeland gave up a couple of catches to Antonio Brown for (heaven’s) sake,'” Gruden said. “I like where (Norman) is at. If there’s a specific time or play or part of the game where we can match up, we can do that. But Breeland was here the last two years, and he had to cover (Bryant) before and he’s done pretty well against him.””

Understandable, but from a fan’s perspective, this is highly disappointing.